Are you a auto sleeper?

[Mousy]

Hi we have seen a van we really like, an auto sleeper Northants 37 anniversary on a merc base.

Is there anything we should know, good or bad before we part with our hard earned?

Thanks in advance mousy

 

[busby]

Hi we have seen a van we really like, an auto sleeper Northants 37 anniversary on a merc base.

Is there anything we should know, good or bad before we part with our hard earned?

Thanks in advance mousy

What year is that? about 2008. Busby

 

[laneside]

We had one and it never had a single fault, built to a good standard with, I believe, a one piece roof that will never leak.

Just make sure the layout is for you as we sold ours because we got fed up of making beds up

 

[Mousy]

2011 Mercedes 316 cdi (160 bhp) automatic low miles

 

[busby]

Think that was built with the monoque body, one piece moulding. Same construction Autosleeper used from 80 s until early 2000s. It was to expensive for them to carry on with this method of construction but i know they built some on their 50 anniversary. Same construction as on my 17 year old Excellsior which still looks good and is as dry as the day it was made. Should be a good van on a Merc. BUSBY

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[Mousy]

Reassuring so far....

I don't think the beds will be a massive issue, surly it's just throwing down a couple of nice sleeping bags? just glad to have found one long enough for Martin, our 6'5" 17 year old lad may struggle though, yet another reason to stay at home watching the rugby!

The dealer is 10 mins up the road (with a good local reputation), he's happy to test drive it up our drive but it's only 6.4 x 2.3 so fingers crossed it fits. :thumb:

Anything we should ask, hold out for when I unleash the chief negotiator tomorrow?

 

[busby]

Good luck with the purchase. Second Autosleeper i have owned and very happy with both of them. BUSBY

 

[paulmold]

You could always ask the Autosleeper Owners Forum (just google it) , nothing to do with the owners club.

 

[daisy mae]

I have an Autosleeper on a VW this is the second one, when I was looking for a larger one, I ididn`t even look at any other makes, would only have an VW Auto-sleeper, I am a member of the Autosleeper owners forum, lots of info on there. if it is a monoquoc sp. body, they are brilliant no seams to leak, didn`t think they made them as late as that though.

Merc is as good as VW. :thumb:

 

[golly]

We have a 2010 Surrey which is same chasis but with a luton over cab. The Auto Merc is fantastic to drive, more comfortable than my car:thumb: The only thing I have against it is there is no spare wheel supplied, unless they have changed it on your year. Auto sleeper wanted £1500 to supply a wheel and move the water tanks to be able to fit a carrier. All in all a comfortable van with a decent amount of room. I have averaged 26mpg since I got it a year ago still only has 12000 miles on.

John

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[DuxDeluxe]

If it is a northants and on a Merc then I'm pretty sure it won't be a monocoque. Come to think of it, the roof on mine is one piece. There will always be gainsayers, but A/S generally has less issues than most. My own van is really good - well pleased with it and would unhesitatingly have another :thumb:

 

[busby]

No unfortunately it is not a monoque but its a one piece roof. Autosleeper so good van. BUSBY

 

[Mousy]

Hi all, what sort of mpg are you getting? We've read some reviews of 20mpg, on a 160 sprinter auto, it's making us nervous....

:Sad:

 

[Welsh girl]

We had a swift voyager,2010 , nothing but trouble, went back a few years to get a ,2007 Autosleeper Hampshire, not a monoque body but with grp sides.
Couldn't afford a newer one but did look at them, quality does seem to have dropped on newer ones.
Things seem to be left out like a spare wheel and flyscreens on hab doors, stuff like that.
Much better quality than the swift, happy except that it's not winterised.
It's on a Ford transit and we just clocked 27 mpg coming down to Portugal so winterised not so much of a problem for a Portuguese winter!

 

[chrisboyo]

We have a 2012 Sussex Duo based on a Pug van conversion 2.2 litre 37mpg. Very pleased with it, had it a year and no major issues to date:thumb:

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[golly]

Hi all, what sort of mpg are you getting? We've read some reviews of 20mpg, on a 160 sprinter auto, it's making us nervous....

:Sad:

over 3500 miles I have averaged 26mpg
worst was 21.65mpg
best was 30.26mpg

Depends on type of roads, weather (wind) etc

I tried to copy the spread sheat but it wont copy to the thread

In theory, the Northants should be better as it hasn't got the luton over the cab that the Surrey has (less wind resistance)

 

[busby]

I get 29 mpg but cannot compare it with your modern van. No turbo no CAT and an auto. BUSBY

 

[jonasw19]

2009 AS Suffolk merc 2.2 auto 25 mpg with giant luton
Some starting probs cured by changing a couple of relays £40 diy.
Some vibration obvious at around 2000 rpm.
Some electrical gremlins cured by a new control panel. This took quite a bit of detective work, fortunately mostly done by kind friends and solved by sending the bits back to Sargent for testing. Dealer was no use, the factory was not much better.
Build quality okish, ours is second owner now 17k miles and the interior trims and certain bits are not as good as I expect on a van of this ?quality.
All three of the dropdown lockers have failed with one requiring a new mechanism costing more than £200.
I roof leak from the moulding adjacent to the wind out awning. Caught quickly and solved by a bead of mastic self applied. Factory gave good advice in this instance.
Good to drive. We use the bed made up in the lounge, and ignore the one in the luton, too claustrophobic and a long way down in the middle of the night. We keep a mattress topper and all the bedding up there. Bed takes just a couple of minutes.
Shower and washroom / toilet are good. I am 6'3" and it is fine.

We go for 5 week trips in Europe and it copes well and we never hook up as the 80w solar panel and 50 miles a day driving are ok. We have replaced all the interior lighting with led, which is well worth it.

In the 2years we have had the van we have done 11000 miles and 220 nights or more.
It is not adequately winterised but the heating is good, the water and waste tanks need insulating. We also had 2 6kg gaslow bottles fitted which do more than 2 weeks between fills in spring and autumn.

In summary not without problems, drives well with the automatic merc, will become a good van if we dont chop it in for a fixed bed design, we are still happy with it.

jon

 

[maison]

Auto Sleeper

Having always coveted an Autosleeper I bought a Ravenna in 2002.

It was a nice little motorhome but I sold it after 18 months as I had 5 gas leaks during my ownership. Three of these happened while travelling throughout Europe. The inconvenience of having to shut off gas supplies when not in use until you can find a repairer took the shine of things. At each repair I had the gas system checked but leaks kept happening at different points in the system.

It shook my faith in Autosleepers but, look on the manufacturer specific threads and you will see all manufacturers have problems, as I know very well.

Good luck !